focusing

In the world of photography, achieving precise focus is a requirement when capturing great images. Whether you're shooting a landscape, a candid portrait, or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in a fast-paced event, sharp focus can make or break your image. 

Zone focusing (ZF) is a great way to pre-set your camera's focus and aperture, then use that setting for multiple shots. Street shooters love it. And it's also great for sports, pets, jumpy kids, parties, or any subjects in motion.

When using manual focus, it’s difficult to tell exactly where your plane of focus is. It’s possible to make a guess using your eye, but you can still be slightly off and end up with an image that is out of focus. Similar to how histograms take the guesswork out of exposure, focus peaking uses an algorithm and a simple visual aid to help take the guesswork out of manually focusing your lens.

Scientists have created a new focus-free camera using an ultra-flat lens that "eliminates the need for focusing." The development could have an impact on both photography and a wide range of industries.

Canon has announced that a fix for the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens' focusing issues will be released "in the beginning of January 2020." The announcement comes one week after Canon confirmed to PetaPixel that the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM focusing issue reported here is, indeed, a widespread problem.

Have you ever been disappointed to find the eyeballs of your subject to be not as sharp as you had expected even though your camera confirmed that autofocus had locked onto them? Photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery made this 9.5-minute video explaining how he avoids this "false positive autofocus trap" when focusing in tricky situations or on tricky subjects.

If you have a TLR camera, here's a simple trick you can try to help you to focus more easily. All you'll need is some rubber bands, scissors, aluminum foil, and a ruler (optional).

Want to learn how to shoot tack-sharp landscape photos? Photographer Dave Morrow made this solid 27-minute guide that teaches his personal focusing strategy. He believes it's the "most in-depth guide to back button focus and hyperfocal distance currently on YouTube."

"Focus by wire" is a system found in many camera lenses these days. Here's a 9-minute video by TheCameraStoreTV that takes a look at what "focus by wire" is and some reasons it isn't that great.

Finding razor-sharp focus when shooting astrophotography can be hard – stars appear as point light sources, and there are no detailed surfaces to aid the eye in achieving focus. The Bahtinov Mask is a widely used tool that cleverly uses diffraction as a focusing aid.

Having trouble nailing tack-sharp autofocus with your camera? Aside from technical proficiency, there are a number of other issues that could be causing you AF grief. Here's a 14-minute video on 8 common AF problems and their solutions.

One thing that early reviewers are noticing about the Sony a7R II is …

This week Canon announced its new 50mm f/1.8 STM, a followup to the popular and cheap "Nifty Fifty" 50mm f/1.8 II. Aside from a better build quality and a metal mount, the new lens also features Stepping Motor (STM) technology for
smooth and silent autofocusing.

If you'd like to see how the focusing sound and smoothness compares between the new lens and its predecessor, check out the comparison video above.

As more and more camera manufacturers are taking the mirrorless route to their product lineup, there are still plenty of companies dedicated to producing top-of-the-line DSLRs. And while the mirrorless market is seeing a massive jump in specs with each passing year, the DSLR market is working to keep up with their less mechanical counterparts.

Canon is looking to tackle the growing issue of balancing the focusing capabilities of DSLRs with the mechanical mirror setup that limits what they're currently capable of. And the above patent shows off just how they might achieve that.

If you've never shot with an old manual focus film SLR, you've probably never experienced the joys (and pains) of focusing with a split screen and microprism ring. YouTube user ttcalan created this short video that demonstrates how the system looks and works. He writes,

Just a demonstration of how manual focus works on a Minolta X-700. It's shot through the viewfinder and shows how the split prism and microprism ring help the photographer focus. I also show how stopping down the lens causes the split prism to go dark.

If you recently upgraded from a compact camera to a DSLR, one of the first things you …

One of the interesting technologies Sony introduced into its line of NEX mirrorless cameras last year (starting with the NEX-C3) was "focus peaking", a feature from the video recording world that highlights in-focus areas of an image to aid in manual focusing. You know those colorful pixels that image editing programs use to indicate blown out or underexposed areas of photos? It's like that, except for focus. What's awesome is that you can adjust things like focus, focal length, and aperture, and then see the depth of field adjust on your screen in real time. Check out the 10-second video above for a demo.

Contrast detection is one of the two main techniques used in camera autofocus …

If you've never used a rangefinder camera before, this video provides a visual look at how focusing works (a Leica M2 is used). Basically you're given a second (smaller) image of the scene, and your goal is turn the focus ring until the two images match up for the subject you'd like to have in focus.

The concept of hyperfocal distance is used in landscape photography to achieve the greatest depth …

Want more precision in your focus adjustments when shooting video with your DSLR, but don't want to shell out money for a pricey follow focus? Flickr user Adam Lisagor shot this photo showing how he created his own DIY follow focus for $6. All you need is a steel hose clamp, drawer handle, nut, and bolt. Drill a hole through the clamp, and put it together as shown above.